SEARATS OF THE BLACK PEARL!
by CI-KiteWolfling-NYPD
Summary: When Jack Sparrow kidnapped Josh and Darlene Springer from their home on Port Royale, he never thought he'd start to like the pair of scamps, and he certainly never thought they'd embrace the life of piracy...HILLARIOUS, PLEASE READ!
1. Enter the Searats

_It was a cold night in Port Royal, Jamaica. Every single shadow cast by the light of the full moon seemed to have a demon hiding inside of it, waiting to jump out at unsuspecting innocents. It was on this night, in this particular city, that an extraordinary adventure was about to begin for two young children. You see, as is often happening-_

"Don't you think that sounds a cry to..feminene?"

I looked up from my journal, and squinted against the bright Caribbean sunlight, and penetrated my brother Josh Springer with my most barbed look, while placing my hands on my hips characteristically.

"I beg yer pardon, oh brother of mine.…what the bloody heck is that supposed to mean?"  
He laughed, and leaped from his perch up in the ratlines, his sandy-brown hair looking slightly tousled in the wind, "Darlene, come on! If yer going to write a narrative that explains how we ended up here, you have to make it sound like _you_ wrote it, not some high born scholar. This is how it actually went!" Then, after he dusted his hands off, and craned his head back to see what a daring jump from on high he made, my older brother returned his gaze to me, and screwed up his face, and squealed in a passable imitation of my voice, "_Josh! Where are we? What's happening? Who are these men with swords and big guns? Josh? What's going on? Why are they taking us to their boat? Josh! Are they pirates? JOSH? AHHHH? Are they going kill us? Are they going to make us walk the plank? Oh, Josh, gallant brother, save me! Kick their hides with your awesome skills and poweress!"_

"If I recall correctly.." Captain Jack Sparrow cocked his head, tapping a long, delicate finger on the wheel of the Black Pearl, "Darlene was the one doing the saving and the all around hide kicking, while you pretty much cowered behind her. Made it a heck of a lot easier to take you captive, and force her to put down the sword."

"Yeah, good times, good times!" I laughed, though inwardly I was still seething at that memory. It was two months ago that my brother Josh and I had been taken from our peaceful nest in Port Royal, and dumped into the hands of a bunch of pirates. I had grown used to, and, indeed, fond of the pirate life…but I still can't believe that fourteen years of instruction in swordplay has been useless when the great Captain Jack Sparrow held a gun up to my brothers head, and forced me to surrender, "Jack…just…uh…next time you and I are in an all out sparring match, make sure you don't cheat, and threaten to kill my brother."

"Threatening and cheating is what I do best, luv!" Jack Sparrow said, all smiles. He was in a playful mood, brought on by rum, and the good weather we were having. Josh and I were the only ones up on the main deck, save for the occasional odd seaman, one towards port side, playing his pennywhistle, and three behind us on the fantail, having a spitting contest.

Here I turned out, and faced the sea, taking in a deep breath of the crisp, salty sea air. We were three days south of Tortuga, with fair winds and skies at our backs. I glanced sorrowfully at the ragged manuscript in my hand, and flung it overboard, watching in mild amusement as the sheafs of paper drifted down, down, down, until they were at last swallowed up by the spray from the ocean.

The sad notes of, 'My Gone Away Lass' from the whistle playing pirate were swept away into the breeze, which suddenly kicked in with a vengeance. I stumbled back a little as the sails billowed out as far as they were ought, and the Black Pearl surged foreword into the sea.

"You there!" Jack suddenly threw out to anyone in the vicinity, and in less time than it had taken for him to bark the command, four seamen were standing in a shabby line before us, "Tighten the main and foresails. If this pleasant li'l breeze keeps up, I have a feeling we could be at Port Samusen in three days."

"What about the sails on the mizenmast, sir?" The pirate with the penny whistle asked (I think his name is Dagger, due to the choice of weapon he wore)

Jack gave his most toothy, winning smile to me and my brother, "I think our little shiprats can take care of those. Careful on the topgallant…if she rips, I'll keelhaul you without a moments notice."

"Yessir." Josh and I said. We were used to that little threat, and the term, 'shiprat' was more a term of endearment than scorn, as it used to be. With a hopskipping run, I was the first up in the ratlines, climbing them like a monkey, Josh not far behind.


	2. Don't do anythingstupid

Four days later, we had Port Samusen in our sights, as well as a good time on the island. The place was a pristine tropical jewel, woven into an intricate blanket of blue, a sort of a rogue island. It had once been a British port, until it had been taken over by the rebel French. It was so far out in the middle of the ocean that Britain had pretty much let it go. Port Samusen wasn't as notorious as Tortuga for housing pirates and other filth of the sea, but it sure was a close second.

The unnervingly beautiful weather had kept up for the past few days, and Mr. Gibbs had rated us at an average of fourteen knots, a right brisk pace that kept our dear Captain Jack in a jolly mood for the rest of the trip, which is always, always good.

"There she is, Josh!" I sighed. Josh and I were standing on the fantail, looking due east as the Black Pearl made considerable headway towards the tropical island jewel, "Port Samusen!"

"Aye.." Josh muttered, his smooth brow furrowing, "But what on earth are we doing here?"

The wind was whipping my long, untamed hair around my face. I pulled it back irritantly, and glanced over to where Jack was.

"Ask our Captain!" I grinned, gesturing vaguely behind me. Jack had the wheel once again, like he had for the past few days. Occasionally he would pull out that compass, glance at it, and maybe tweak the wheel a few points to the south, or southwest.

"Alright, now, you whelps!" Jack called, the wind carrying his voice up the deck to us, "Mr. Gibbs and I have business to attend to on shore..so I want you to play nice with the other children….and try not to do anything….stupid."

I dearly wanted to turn Jack's characteristic line around on him, saying something clever and also Jack-like, for example, "Ah, but being stupid is what we do best!" But I could tell that Jack was dead serious about this. Something big was going to go down in Port Samusen, and I wasn't about to get into the middle of it.

"Made ready to go ashore, you dogs!" Jack roared, and there was suddenly a bustle of activity on the main deck.

Josh glanced at me, "Well , looks like we have a fun afternoon ahead of us!"

I smiled, "Too right, that!"


	3. Wrath of the Sparrow

The weather on the shore of Port Samusen was beautiful. Josh and I stepped down from the Black Pearl onto the dock with a noticeable spring in our steps, and coins jangling in our moneybags. My older brother had taken it upon himself to badger Mr. Gibbs as we pulled into the Port for some money to settle our whims and fancies on, and, well, we got it.

I was dressed as a boy, _again,_ my long hair tied up, and hidden under a hat that I had found on our sojourn on Tortuga. Even after only a week at sea, I felt a little off balanced as we strolled purposefully up the dock, and onto sweet, sweet ground.

"Ok, brother, what do you want to do?" I asked cheerfully, not really looking at Josh as I turned my head, taking all the activity in. The crew of the Black Pearl had already dispersed among the French speaking natives, and I had a feeling that if I nipped into the local tavern in a few minutes, I would find at least half of them rolling around on bar stools, half drunk with the rum. A few women of questionable virtue were hanging around the southern part of the harbor, from what I could see, talking animatedly to the crew of a Dutch smuggler that had pulled in just ahead of us.

Ah, well. Here I allowed myself a fiendish grin. Such is the way of a pirate. I took a deep breath, and gave Josh a glance.

"Do I smell something good in the air, or is that just me?"

Josh stuck his nose in the air, and inhaled greatly. He kept his face frozen in that bizarre position as he said in one breathe, "I smell pirate, dead fish, salt, and the obvious signs that you haven't showered in…several weeks."

I aimed a smack at his forehead, but he was to fast for me, dancing out of my way on nimble feet that I had long admired. Those thoughts evaporated as my brother crashed into a seasoned seaman who had been passing behind him with an armful of nets and ropes.

He let loose with an extraordinarily loud curse that made my fair cheeks blush. Josh and I skittered back a few steps, eyes wide. The man pulled a knife out of nowhere, and started to advance on us…but one of his large feet caught in the fishing net, and down his went with a crash that I swear I could have felt through the entire earth.

"MOVE!" I hollered at Josh, giving him a shove in the small of his back that nearly downed him, too. Tripping and stumbling, and nearly colliding with other people, we ran up the slope, and went into the first building that we came to.

Ah, the local tavern how wonderful. As the door swung shut behind the pair of us, the eyes of every single son of a mother in the room landed on us. Everything went quiet. I quickly scanned over the worn, pitted, scarred, and tattooed faces that were fixed on my own. A good percentage of them were blank, drunk, I reckoned. Some were glaring like they wanted nothing more than to run us through then and there, and even more were slightly amused, like my brother and I were some sort of mildly amusing dinner show.

Then Josh _waved._

_"_Ahoy there, mates!" He called jovially in his best pirate voice, plucking me by my elbow, and slowly dragging me towards the bar, where there were two empty stools, "Nice day for a bottle of rum, 'eh?"

"Ahh….my little searats!" A familiar voice called. My gaze darted to the left, and there was Captain Jack, lounging in the corner of the tavern, hat cocked slightly foreward, looking slightly tipsy. Mr. Gibbs sat across from him, a mug of beer sitting on the table innocently, face unreadable.

"Hi, Jack!" Josh said, sounding more and more like an idiot. Now he changed direction, and started dragging me towards our captain. My brother twisted his head around, and commented to the tavern full of still watching pirates, "Captain Jack Sparrow, you know. He's like a father to us."

As we reached the corner table, Jack suddenly lashed out with his hand, seizing Josh by the front of his shirt, and pulling him in viciously until my brother was nose to nose with the man. Josh gagged, and collided with the table, nearly knocking it over. I gasped.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you explicitly _not_ to come, you fool!" Jack snarled, flecks of spit hitting Josh's face. I couldn't tell if the fear rushing though my veins was my own, or Josh's channeling through me, as will sometimes happen with twins. When Jack was in a foul temper, he was certainly a man to avoid. I can't believe I didn't see it before. His seemingly friendly hail across the tavern was a veiled command for us to leave.._immediatly._

"No-No sir, you didn't say that!" Josh sputtered, sweating heavily. I stood there, trying not to watch, knowing that everyone in the room was looking at us. Josh, you are such and _idiot._

"Then I'll use smaller words and speak slower so I won't confuse you!" Jack continued, his voice still dripping with venom and anger, "Get. Out. Of. Here. Now. Savvy?"

"S-Savvy, sir!" Josh croaked, "Captain..I can't breathe-"

Jack released my brother with a shove so that he stumbled into me, and would have fallen back and hit head terribly hard on a round table, had I not caught him. We were both breathing heavily as though we had been running.

"Get out of here!" Mr. Gibbs repeated, rising. I was totally freaked out. What on earth-

_WHAM. _Josh and I whirled around to see what had made all the noise. Someone had thrown the door open with an almighty noise. Once again, the assembled men were gawking at the man in the doorway, as though this were a pastime.

"JACK SPARROW!" An impossibly loud voice boomed, "IT'S TIME TO PAY BACK WHAT YOU OWE!"

"Now we're in for it, you fools!" Jack groaned, smacking his forehead with his open palm.


	4. Flashback to Port Royal

_**(A/N Please note. Yes, I have gotten rid of Governor Swann, Elizabeth, Will, and Norrington in order for this story to fit my plot. I am so sorry and I will make it up to my readers by doing….i dunno…something. This chapter really should come before the first, but it doesn't.  alright, well, read and enjoy**! _

_Six weeks earlier._

_Port Royal_

_House of the Governor._

As the governor of Port Royal, Charles Springer could not afford to loose his cool, or break down. It wasn't becoming, and the people of the town did not want to see their leader broken and stressed during these troubling times. They wanted a strong leader who stands firm in the most volatile of storms. But surely the good people could understand the situation he was in now…

His twin children had been taken captive by _pirates_. And not just any gang of pirates….the crew of the notorious _Captain Jack Sparrow. _They had been gone, now, for two weeks. Springer knew what his men were saying behind his back, and closed doors- '_they're as good as dead'_

Unfortunately…that thought was poking around in the governor's mind as well, though it was quickly banished as soon as it would rear its ugly head.

Things had been patched up in the city itself since the raid, market stalls that had been destroyed were new once more, windows that had been shattered were replaced, Wounds that had been rendered were starting to heal, trivial things like that. The townspeople of Port Royal were slowly, slowly starting to forget what had happened that moonlit night…but Governor Springer would never, ever, let the events that came to pass fade from his mind.

'_And who would_?' The worn man thought to himself. Springer was standing out on the porch balcony of his home, looking over the sea, trying desperately to find peace with himself. It was early morning on the fourteenth day since the raid, and the sun had risen a bright, bloody, captivating red. However, Springer did not feel any of its warmth. He had hardly gotten any sleep in the past fortnight, despite the urgings of his men. He did not look as tired as he felt, on the other hand. Springer had an uncanny ability to play the perfect poker face, and thus hide his true emotions behind a stony mask. This trait made him the kind of father that was rather hard to deal with, which Springer now sorely regretted.

Thousands of detached thoughts were chasing each other around in his keen mind, bits and pieces that were all pretty much variations of '_when I get my hands on those pirating ' _ and, '_ if only I had not been in such a rage that night…then the children would not have been outside the manor…"_

"Governor Springer, sir?" A hesitant voice uttered from behind him.

Charles straightened up from his morose position leaning against the railing. He wiped the desolate expression from his face, and settled for one that was deciduously blank and empty, wheeling around to face an acquaintance of Josh and Darlene's, Erik Swennson. He was a lanky, darkhaired, good-looking lad of seventeen, just one month older than the twins. He also had taken a dogged fancy to Darlene, who had quite blatantly refused him, and thwarted all his advances. Erik was the only son of a weathered sea merchant, who had given up his trade, and made Port Royal his permanent home.

One could _not_ say that Erik was a friend of the twins, you must understand. He could almost always be seen around them, however, though hoping for their friendship, or devising ways to make Darlene his own, none but the twins could know. While Josh and Erik were at fierce odds due to a childhood mishap that Springer had never really heard the end of, Erik doted on Darlene to the point of nausea from both twins.

. Erik was an experienced sailor, having lived on the sea for the better part of his life. Perhaps this was why the twins put up with him. They always did have an interest in sea voyaging. Charles clamped his hands behind his back, pushed the memory of his children aside, and said gruffly, "Hello, son. What can I do for you?"

"Sir…I want your permission to leave Port Royal…take a ship…and go search the ocean for Lady Darlene!" Erik declared in a powerfully determined tone, eyes blazing. "And her brother.." The boy added as a reluctant afterthought

Charles felt several replies welling up inside of him, most of them rather cutting, having to do with Erik's passion for Darlene, and obvious disdain for her older twin. All of his words met firmly clamped lips, and did not escape past them. Governor Springer did not allow his face to betray any emotion at all, so he simply stared at the boy, as though he were seeing him for the first time.

"Listen, lad." He said at last, in a low voice, "I have all the men that can be spared looking for them. I appreciate your offering to help, but…"

"Sir, please!" Erik burst out, urgency practically dripping from his tone, "With all due respect, your men won't know where to look! When I lived at sea with my father, we had our run in with pirates…and I am ashamed to say we even befriended a rare handful of them! I know all their haunts that are forbidden by the Pirates Code to speak of, I have connections…sir, I can help!"

A ringing silence met the end of Erik's speech. The governor once again sealed everything that was going on inside of him up, and then let it all out in one sigh.

"Alright, Erik." Charles said in a barely audible voice , "You have my permission. Godspeed, and bring them back safely."

"I will, sir. I will." Erik said with a keen light shining in his eyes.

"And Josh, too, Erik."

The lad winced, "Very well, sir."


	5. Two Twins for a Bottle of Rum

There is one thing I have come to wonder in these past few months….how the bloody _heck_ do I get myself sucked into these situations?

Like, take now, for instance. There we all were me, my brother, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Mr. Gibbs all around the table when that random stranger announced his presence in such a startling manner. I had just cricked my neck from spinning around so fast, and was in the middle of rubbing it when my jaw dropped. What…the…_HECK_?

The man was easily the largest man that I had ever laid my eyes on, to be sure. Oh, he wasn't fat or anything, he was just impossibly, blasted TALL. He staggered towards us on unsteady feet, and as he neared, I wondered how he could see! One eye was clouded and blank, with a jagged diagonal scar running though it, as though from a pear knife, and the other was hidden behind an eye patch. Once again…_what…the..HECK._

"SO GOOD TO SEE YOU, JACK SPARROW!!" The man croaked in a strange, grating voice. It had that unpleasant grinding noise, of, say, the hull of a ship scraping up against the ocean floor, "I SEE THAT YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE CHILDREN. GOOD. I WAS STARTING TO THINK THAT YOU WOULD DUCK OUT OF YOUR HALF OF OUR LITTLE BARGAIN."

"Bargain?" I pivoted on my foot, and proceeded to penetrate Jack with my most cutting glare. Back home on Port Royal, such looks of death were known to stop even the boldest of suitors dead in their tracks, "Jack, what's going on?"

"Yeah, good question!" Josh said, also throwing a sideways glare at Jack._ His_ glare did not hold the same intensity, to be sure. If you want to knock someone out with a blunt instrument, have my dear brother either glare at them, or tell them a joke.

Jack did not reply to either of our inquiries. Instead he threw out his most dazzling, brilliant, toothy smile, tipped his chair back lazily, and said smoothly, "Ah, Huagen, how nice to see you! I..uh…don't suppose that we can change the negotiations here, ay?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" The man, who I presume was named Huagen, growled. He suddenly seemed to emit an almost tangible aura of intimidation.

For one brief, illuminating instant, Jack's suave act fell through, and I thought that I could see him being…worried? Maybe I had imagined it, since suddenly that bizarre smile was back again, as soon as I had thought it gone, and he said in a slightly softer tone, "Well, that's what I would have expected, then, ay? Did you bring it?"

"THAT I DID, SPARROW!" Huagen said. From the fathomless folds of his travel stained overcoat, the man pulled out a long necked bottle of a musty yellow liquid that I took to be rum, "ONE BOTTLE OF KAJJARMA'S FAMOUS RUM FOR THE TWINS OF GOVONER SPRINGER!"

Huagen's last statement hung in the air like the topgallant on the Black Pearl, suspended for eternity.

"WHAT?" Josh and I shouted in unison, our voices eerily similar.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack eyeing the bottle of rum with a greedy glint in his eye.

"AHH….SO JACK HASN'T TOLD YE YER FATE, EH?" Huagen said, laying that one creepy eye on my and my brother, "WELL, MY PRETTIES…YOU ARE TO BE THE NEWEST ADDITION TO MY SLAVE CREW! PERHAPS YOU'VE HEARD OF MY DEAR SHIP….THE HELLSCUM?"

It was all so horribly cliché, and weird that I could scarcely put up my hand in defense when Huagen came towards me, and knocked my hat off my head in one smooth motion, letting the dark untamed curls fall around my shoulders.

"AND WHAT A PRICE YOU WILL BRING, POPPET!" He breathed, coming uncomfortably close. Once again, fear had me frozen, and I couldn't move as his breath washed over me, a nauseating mixture of rum, and a dead something or other.

"_Get away from my sister, you creep_!" Josh shouted, and dragged me back out of groping range. Thanks, Josh. I honestly think that was the bravest thing that he had ever done. You know, underestimating my brother is almost a national pastime. He's actually a pretty sharp kid.

I was still in a state of shock with my older twins arms around me protectively, that I couldn't even summon the energy or the will to stoop down and pick up my treasured hat.

"Now, see here, Huagen!" Jack said, leaning foreword, and folding his long fingers together, and resting his pointed chin on his thumbs, "I've been thinking it over, and I know how much you dearly want to make ole Guv'nuh Springer wallow in pain with the knowledge that his twins are on your slave ship, crying out for their sainted mother…but don'tcha think that it would strike him harder in the gut to know that the said twins are on board the Black Pearl, with myself, Captain Jack?"

There was a silence. Josh and I glanced at Jack.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, SPARROW?" Huagen groweled.

"Nothing, old man, what d'ya think I said?" Jack was all smiles again, eyeing the bottle of rum greedily. I caught his gaze, however. Normally I am pretty good at reading the emotions of different people, but Captain Jack Sparrow has always, always stumped me. He sets up a fine mental block for himself, I've noticed, which really gets me steamed. Like, now all I could get from him was a bizarre mixture of what might have been a few twinges of regret, maybe? Ah, what the heck. Not like it matters, when me and my brother are going to get sold out to a slaver. I blinked and looked away.

I had heard things about slavers, of course, but always from the protection of Port Royal. When Josh and I were growing up, I guess that there had been an attack on the Port by this guy, (The name of Huagen's ship, 'Hellscum' sounded kinda familiar) We were in the America's on holiday, so I wasn't on the island when the attack had happened.

Now I watched Jack and Huagen give each other the evil eye, like each was expecting something from the other, which they very well might have been. I dunno. Like I said, I can't get into Jack's head.

"I think I owe you two an explination." The Captain said in his most winning tone, smiling again.

"Too right, that!" Josh and I said simultaneously.

The Captain slowly rose from his chair, and heaved a great sigh. I suppose that he must have thought that were he to stand and rear up to his full height, he would make more of an impression on Huagen, but the effect was quite contrary, due to the fact that Jack was at least a foot and a half shorter than Huagen himself. However, this did not daunt Jack at all, and he continued with that smile still plastered on his face, "The one thing I hate about kids is that they never, ever, listen. They always do incredibly stupid things, right, Huagen?"

"WHIP THEM INTO SUBMISSION, AND YOU HAVE NO MORE PROBLEMS!!" Huagen growled, that one eye still on me.

Jack's gaze slowly hardened as he turned to my brother and I, "I don't even remember how many times I've said it, you rats, but _GET THE BLOODY HELL OUT OF HERE_!"

With that, he drew his sword, leaped across the table in a fine fashion, and slashed at Huagen. Faster than my eye could see, the slave trader had a long, thin, rapier drawn from nowhere, and made a wonderful parry that sent sparks flying. All at once, he and Jack were going at it in an all out sparring match. As I watched, open mouthed, Jack made an incredible jump at least three feet into the air, and almost in slow motion, that rapier of Huagen's swept underneath him. Jack scrambled back, and was up and over the edge of the bar, scrabbling furiously for hold as he slipped over some broken glass and spilled rum. Huagen followed in an instant, and I lost sight of Jack, but then he popped up out of nowhere with a spare barstool in his grasp, and cracked Huagen over the head with it.

It was a good fight, and I sure didn't know who to rot for, the man who was planning on selling us out, or the man that we were going to be sold to.

That slave trader must have had an incredibly hard head, because after stumbling around behind that bar while Jack swung himself up and over, he did not go down. All he did was throw his head back, and give a loud, and rather nasty bellow.

"Come on, Huagen, old chap!" Jack called tauntingly from a few feet back, leaning nonchalantly against a random table, "Let's see if you can catch Jacky, ay?"

To fully complete his maddening demeanor of ease that even I have come to loath, Jack took a swig of rum from an abandoned mug that had been sitting all alone on the table. He smacked his lips, smiled widely, and said, "MMM….tasty!"

Huagen winged a full mug of beer at Jack, who ducked just in time. The glass object whistled past him, and crashed with heartstopping volume on the far wall.

All at once, Mr. Gibbs was at Josh and mines side.

"When Jack tells you to run, you ask, 'how far!'" The man snarled, proving once again that a man of his slight stature can be as intimidating as any old salt

Josh was watching Huagen clamber over the bar with dear in his eyes, "Sorry, Mr. Gibbs, but it's hard to instantly and withour question obey the man that was planning to sell the lives me and my sister for a bottle of rum."

SMACK!! Mr. Gibbs cuffed me and Josh so hard on the side of the head that it made my teeth rattle. I guess we had sorta deserved it, I thought as I staggered slightly sideways under the force of the blow, but geez, that still hurt!

"Jack is risking his very life for ye!" Mr. Gibbs spat, looking at us two with an arced eyebrow, and a mouth twisted into a frown, "He and I came here to change the bargain with Mr. Huagen so that we would not have to give you up. True, what you heard was the reason that we pulled you from Port Royal, but no more! Jack has decided he would rather keep two of his friends than receive a worthless bottle of rum!"

"MR. GIBBS!!" Jack shouted from across the room. He was in a corner, still sparring with Huagen, his arm a blur of motion as it parried and thrusted with a rabid speed, "GRAB THE RUM!! DON'T LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO IT!! THAT'S WORTH AT LEAST SIX HUNDRED GOLD!!"

I glanced at Mr. Gibbs, my eyebrow raised questioningly.

He shrugged, "Alright, then, so Jack came here to see if there was any way he could keep both. Either way, if you two hadn't a shown up, things may have gone much smoother."

"GET OUT OF HERE YOU RATS!!" Jack screamed once again, kicking over a table, which he dived behind as Huagen pulled out a pistol and fired a single solitary shot at the wood, "AHH!!!!"

"Come on, there's a back way out of here!" Mr. Gibbs grabbed my arm, and slipped that bloody bottle of rum into my grasp, "Get out, now!"

"Yeah, I think I've seen enough for today, what do you say, bro?" I turned to my brother.

BAM!

Another shot from the pistol whistled over out heads, and hit the wall a few feet above my head. Far to close if you ask me. Josh seized my arm, and pulled me after Mr. Gibbs so hard that I thought he had pulled it out of it's socket.


	6. Pounding Hearts and Pounding Feet

The next few seconds were such a blur of motion and frantic clattering, that I don't remember much of it. All I know is that Josh and I high tailed it out of that bar in an elapsed timeframe of maybe, um, I dunno, 2.8 seconds? We lost Mr. Gibbs somewhere back there in the melee, but he was a resourceful man, and chances are if we never saw him again on this wide world, he would be much better off than he would be with Jack.

At any rate, my brother and I burst from the back door of the bar, and out onto a busy main street, full of vendors, random pirates, and more interesting smells. People stopped whatever they were doing, and looked at us as though they were watching a rather entertaining vaudeville show.

We took about two seconds to get our bearings again, and then as one we bolted off in the same direction without any spoken agreement. It's just that way with twins, I guess. Sometimes its good, like when you're fleeing for your life, for example.

"Any idea where we're going?" I panted to Josh as we flashed past a few market stalls.

"Nah." My elder twin wheezed back, not even sparing me a glance.

All at once, there was an echoing CRACK that I knew to be a pistol shot. I didn't even turn around to question weather or not the shot was meant for us-I just kept running.

Now, I'm generally a fit kid. You have to be, you know, to scurry up and down the ratlines of the Black Pearl, to be able to scamper this way and that to instantly obey whatever foolish whim Captain Jack has…

But this? I was starting to wear down.

All the panicked running out into nowhere was staring to chew at my stamina. The lack of food for the past few days was taking its toll, as well. Why did it have to be now, when I was desperately running for my life?

CRACK!!!!

I suddenly found a burst of energy as something whizzed past my ear.

As one, my brother and I changed direction. We turned down a side street littered with broken bottles, and kept our frantic pace up. A terror, a blind terror had set itself up in both of our hearts, and we would not stop running until it had spent itself.

Josh was still sprinting on and on, his long legs taking great strides. The synchronizing of our feet slapping against the ground, world flying past us, let me fall into an easier rhythm, All the same I still lagged behind, legs still churning like mad. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that the scene we were zipping though was no longer that of a busy pirates town…but shrubs…and trees.

That cache of stamina I had found in the pure fear of getting shot at was quickly dwindling. I had to command each and every footfall to hit the ground and stay there. Every fiber in me wanted to stop…to rest…to take a breather…

"Stop-STOP!!!" I wheezed, barley managing to gasp out even those few words, "Josh, STOP!!! I can't go any further!!"

At that moment every ounce of energy I had left me in a rush, and my foot got caught on a treacherous rock on the path. I went down with a shout, crashing into the earth with enough force to make me see white.

I lay there, on my back, pain shooting everywhere, breathing heavier than I ever had in my life. I had screwed my eyes shut, not really caring if Huagen's pirates found us. All I wanted was air, and it hissed in and out my lungs with a desperate beat less cadence. My vision slowly came back, and I found myself staring into the face of my twin brother. His normally so cheery countenance looked as though he were about to explode.

"Are you ok? Can you get up?"

"I can't breathe!!!" I gasped, feeling my throat clench, "Dear god, Josh-What if they find us??"

My brother tore his gaze from me, and looked on a ways, most likely peering down the path, looking for any tell tale signs on pirates chasing us.

"I can't hear anything from the town." He said at last, helping me into a sitting position, "We're pretty far out, though."

I took that opportunity to look around at my surroundings. Sure enough, the pair of us had left the city of Port Samusen far behind, and looked like we were out in a forest. There were tall, majestic oaks scattered around in the clearing that I had fallen into. It was the direct contrast of the city-calm, peaceful, and serene.

"Jack_ would_ sell us out for a bottle of rum, wouldn't he?" Josh said darkly, sitting next to me on the ground, looking put off, "So I guess he never really liked us."

Something came to me.

"Remember when he first took us on, how the rest of the crew really didn't want us there? And Mr. Gibbs and Jack made a case for us?"

"You made a case for us, and they just helped it out, since they knew that Huagen would be waiting in Port Samusen with the rum." Josh signed resignedly, "I wanted to go home. I still do."

There was a familiar tingling sensation in the bridge of my nose, and my face heated up. No. I was not going to cry. Not here. Not now. We had come to far to give up, to crawl into the corner like the Governors children we were at heart.

"I wonder what father is doing." I said, my mind back home at the mansion on a hill.

"Probably running Port Royale without a care in the……oh, STOPIT!!!" Josh's fast twisted itself into a look of pain, and he leaped to his feet, "HE NEVER CARED ABOUT US!!! WHY EVEN BRING IT UP!!! WE'RE PIRATES NOW!!! WHO BLOODY CARES ABOUT WHAT GOES ON AT HOME!!!!"

I did not reply to this outburst, I knew Josh was right. At the son of our father, he should have had a lot more going for him, but dear old daddy was convinced that Josh was a failure at everything, and let him know it, too. Our Father never took the time to know more about us, what we liked to do, that sort of thing. It was almost like…when our mother passed away five years ago, he shut himself off from anything that reminded him of her. Namely, us

Josh and I were done running from it all. If Huagen wanted us, he would have to come and get us. We weren't moving.

Instead I leaned my head back, and let my thoughts wander….wander into that cold frigid night so long ago when my twin and I had the misfortune of stumbling onto a pirate raid…….


End file.
